OSCE session removes resolution on human rights violations in Russia from its agenda

"The resolution claims that Russia is incapable of observing human rights,” the deputy added

Share

1 pages in this article

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

ANKARA, June 29 (Itar-Tass) - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has excluded a resolution on human rights violation in Russia from the agenda of its current session,” Nikolai Kovalyov, a State Duma deputy who is heading the Russian delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly’s session in Istanbul, told Itar-Tass on Saturday.

"Initially, the Parliamentary Assembly had planned to discuss the resolution on human rights violations in Russia following a request from the Netherlands. This is a one hundred percent anti-Russian document full of cold war wordings. It mentions both the Mikhail Khodorkovsky case and the Magnitsky Act,” Kovalyov said.

"The resolution claims that Russia is incapable of observing human rights,” the deputy added.

He said that the resolution did not reflect the current human rights situation in Russia.

“In this connection, we claimed that there was no need to include it in the agenda and the Parliamentary Assembly heeded our stance,” Kovalyov went on to say.

He explained that the current resolution was the replica of a document that was discussed at the United Nations last spring. It fully repeats the wordings contained in the previous document and is deprived of all the positive things that were said about Russia in the previous text. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe agreed with the Russian argument that the resolution would seriously damage the OSCE’s image if it was included in the session’s agenda.

"Fifty-seven OSCE members voted against the discussion. We regard it as a sign of serious recognition that Russia has made progress and that the State Duma is guided by expert opinion when it adopts laws,” Kovalyov said in conclusion.